Biography of Thomas W. Hallock

Thomas W. Hallock, farmer and stock-raiser; P. O. Ashmore; was born in Dutchess Co., N. Y., Jan. 20, 1811; he was raised on a farm until he was 15 years old, and then went to Troy, N. Y., where he learned the trade of a coachmaker; he worked for Eaton & Gilbert, at that time one of the largest coachmaking firms in the country; he helped to build the first railway-coach in this country, in 1829; this coach was run on the Amboy & Burtontown R. R., and was drawn by horses. Going to New York City in 1833, he entered the employ of John Stephenson, then located on Bleecker St., near the Bowery, and continued with him after he went to Harlem, and put up his large manufactory there; he remained in New York, and Newark, N. J., until 1837, when he came to Coles Co., and entered acres of land on the Embarrass River; he then rented a farm of H. J. Ashmore for five years, but owing to a lack of rain his farming venture proved an unfortunate one, and at farming end of three years he abandoned it, and removing to Charleston, engaged in carpentering, wagon-making and blacksmithing. On the restarting of the Terre Haute, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, he returned to Ashmore Tp., and settled on his present farm; at that time it was all Government land to the east, except around the groves; there was but one house on the prairie, that being on Wolf Hill; he could see, any day, from 20 to 30 deer in the vicinity; notwithstanding his first failure in farming, he has since been, and is now one of the most successful farmers in the county. He owns 340 acres of land, well improved, with a large, fine house, seven acres of orchard and shrubbery, etc.; he has made a specialty of raising and shipping hay-shipping a few years ago about 400 tons, annually. Like most other successful farmers, he has attended strictly to his farm, leaving public offices to those having more leisure and inclination to attend to them. His first marriage was in May, 1840, to Miss Jane Johnson, of Coles Co.; she died a few years later, leaving one daughter-Alice, wife of Benjamin Honold, of Edgar Co. Mr. Hallock was married again Nov. 19, 1846, to Mrs. Elizabeth Tuttle; her maiden name was Elizabeth Clark; she was born in Pulaski Co., Ky., .May 14, 1820; her father, James Clark, was one of the pioneers of Coles Co., coming with his family in 1829; they have five children living – George R., James H., Aldora A., wife of R. M. Childress, Thomas L., and William H.; Mrs. Hallock has one daughter of her former marriage-Margaret T. Tuttle, wife of Charles S. Olmsted, of Charleston.